Building Futures - 2012 Sustainability Report

In June 2013, La Trobe University released its third sustainability report, Building Futures. The report updates stakeholders on the University's progress on sustainability since its inaugural report Responsible Futures in 2010. Building Futures continues to report the University’s sustainability vision, targets and accountability, and outline our commitment to embedding sustainability across the University.

This report utilises AA1000 Principles and the G3.1 guidelines published by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In 2012, La Trobe reported to a GRI A+ Application Level and engaged Ernst & Young to provide limited assurance in line with the AccountAbility AA1000 Assurance Standard (2008) and ASAE3000.

Building Futures reports against the targets and actions set in the University's previous sustainability reports and has been published primarily as an electronic document, please download to read. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Sustainability targets and results

Solid progress was made against our targets in 2012, with most targets being met. Our progress is outlined in the table below, with more information available on page 7 of Building Futures [PDF 1.4MB].

Environmental

Result

2010

2011

2012

2012 target

Met?

Facility greenhouse gas emissions (tCO2-e/GFA)

0.18

0.13

0.14

0.17

Yes

Staff business travel greehouse gas emissions (tCO2-e/FTE)

2.45

2.60

2.07

2.33

Yes

Energy consumption (GJ/m2 of GFA)

0.99

1.01

0.89

0.94

Yes

Commuting (%) by car, single occupant (staff and students)

46%

50%

49%

43%

No

Water use (kilolitres per EFTPL)

8.72

9.33

8.16

8.41

Yes

General waste to landfill (kilograms per EFTPL)

34.54

36.04

38.14

31.95

No

Recycling (as % of combined recycling and landfill waste)

28.0%

25.0%

24.6%

30.1%

No

Paper use (reams per EFTPL)

3.19

2.59

2.25

2.87

Yes

Social – students

Result

2010

2011

2012

2012 target

Met?

Low socioeconomic status student participation rate

16.6%

17.3%

17.8%

17.24%

Yes

Indigenous Australian student participation rate (number of students)

117

141

162

160

Yes

Social – staff

Result

2010

2011

2012

2012 target

Met?

Female academic staff at Professor level

37%

33%

36%

37%

No

Female academic staff at Associate Professor level

34%

39%

38%

37%

Yes

Senior female professional staff (HEO 10 and above)

40%

39%

37%

42%

No

Sustainability education

Result

2010

2011

2012

2012 target

Met?

Cross-faculty master's courses with a (social and environmental) sustainability focus